Tough Visa norms for foreigners with Pakistani roots

NEW DELHI: Business travellers, tourists, students or any other category of visa seekers to India from all countries, including the US and the EU, may have to get prior clearance from the home ministry if their ancestry till their grandparents is traced back to Pakistan.

Following the David Headley affair, the government is seeking to frame new visa regulations which would require individuals, whose parents or grandparents were from Pakistan, to go through rigorous scrutiny before they are given visas, a government official has said.

"Even if an individual's parents are not from Pakistan, but his/her grandparents belonged to the country, that person would be considered to be of Pakistani origin and would have to go through prior checks," a government official, who did not wish to be named, told ET.

Minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor had said on Thursday in a written reply in Rajya Sabha that the Centre is reviewing visa policy for foreigners of Pakistan-origin. At present, heads of Indian missions in the US have the freedom to grant visas to US and Canadian citizens of Pakistani origin as per guidelines laid down by the home ministry.

Once new visa rules are in place, they may lose this freedom and all applications for visa from people of Pakistani origin would have to be routed through the home ministry. Consultations have already been initiated with other ministries on the issue.